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Sometimes plaintive and spare and sometimes incorporating more complex hip-hop beats and guest rappers, Los Angeles musician Romy Flores creates a nightmarish vision of electronic pop with DeathbyRomy. After debuting the project in the mid-2010s, she released her first album, Monsters, in 2018 and further explored her blend of tormented styles on 2021's Songs for My Funeral.

Born and raised in L.A., Flores adopted the stage alias DeathbyRomy at the age of 15. Struggling with depression and instances of bullying, she soon dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music. Her first album was inspired by her experiences over the next couple years as she found ways to overcome negativity. Early songs including "Blood" and "Wonder Boy" (featuring Violet Kennedy) appeared online in 2016. Collaborations with Los Angeles hip-hop artists Glitter Princess and LePlay were among the dozen or so additional tracks she shared before issuing her debut album, Monsters, in September of 2018. It included appearances by Yung Bans, Lil B, and Cuban Doll. In 2019 she released several new songs, including the blackbear-featuring "Dangerous," as well as EP Love U - to Death, which included the standout and often-streamed track "Problems." "Problems" received the remix treatment from pop-friendly rapper 24kGoldn the next year, and DeathbyRomy steadily issued new songs throughout the year including "Beautiful Mayhem" and "Fiending for a Lover," and her sinister take on the Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men" was included on the Promising Young Woman soundtrack. In 2021, several previously released tracks were included alongside new material on the seven-song release Songs for My Funeral. ~ Marcy Donelson

With a vibrant, collage-like approach to genre, Jazmin Bean fuses a rotating mix of electronicore, hyperpop, orchestral synth rock, theater, anime inspirations, and more into a singular style. Metallic, bass-heavy early singles like "Hello Kitty" and "Monster Truck" appeared on the expanded release of Bean's debut EP, Worldwide Torture, in 2020, although they shifted the balance away from electronics and toward strings on their official debut LP, 2024's Traumatic Livelihood, which landed closer to symphonic synth rock.

As the child of musicians -- Bean's father is guitarist/singer/songwriter Ginger (the Wildhearts, Quireboys), and their mother is Angie Adams, drummer for '90s punk outfit Fluffy -- Jasmine Adams was performing music publicly in their native England by the age of 15. At 16, they made their recording debut under the stage name Jazmin Bean with 2019's "Worldwide Torture." It served as the title track for their debut EP. Originally self-released on their own label, Aswang Birthday Cake, in October 2019, the buzz surrounding singles like "Saccharine" and "Hello Kitty" led to a record deal with Island/Interscope, which reissued the EP with additional tracks in November of 2020. By then, Bean had collected millions of streams for the October single "Yandere" and released collaborations with Cottontail ("Princess Castle") and Zheani ("Monster Truck") to accompany the extended version.

It wasn't long before Jazmin Bean was back with more material in the form of 2021's "R U Looking 4 Me Now." Released amid a series of further studio singles, the five-track Acoustic Church Session demonstrated that, beyond all the highly stylized production, stomping beats, costumes, and make-up (Bean also became known for online makeup tutorials inspired by Monster High dolls), they had musical merit in a more stripped-back setting.

The singer/songwriter/producer displayed something more akin to orchestral synth rock on songs including 2023's "Favourite Toy" and the next year's "You Know What You've Done" that were included on her official debut album, February 2024's Traumatic Livelihood. ~ Marcy Donelson